This performance by pianist Evren Ozel took place on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 2:00 pm.


Program

Composer Work Year
Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude and Fugue in F major (WTC II), BWV 880 1740
Frédéric Chopin Mazurkas, Op. 56 1844
Sergei Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 1931
Intermission
Alexander Scriabin 24 Preludes (selections), Op. 11:1–4 1896
Poèmes, Op. 32 1903
Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 1907

Full Program (PDF)

About the Artist

Evren Ozel

Evren Ozel

American pianist Evren Ozel has established himself as a musician of “refined restraint” (Third Coast Review), combining fluent virtuosity with probing, thoughtful interpretations. Having performed extensively in the United States and abroad, Evren is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild as an Ambassador Prize Winner of their 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition.

Since his debut at age 11 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Evren has gone on to be a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Boston POPS Orchestra, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College with conductors including Jahja Ling, Courtney Lewis, Keith Lockhart, and Leon Botstein. In the 2023-24 season, he will record Mozart Concertos with the Radio Symphonieorchester Wien and conductor Howard Griffiths.

Evren has performed solo recitals at important venues across the US, including The Gilmore’s Wellspring Theater, the Harvard Musical Association, and the Ordway. In 2021 he delivered an all-Chopin recital under a joint collaboration between the Schubert Club and Chopin Society of Minnesota, to critical acclaim. In the 2023-24 season, Evren looks forward to performing the last three Beethoven Sonatas in recital, as well as a recital debut in Boston’s Jordan Hall.

Evren began learning piano from the Suzuki method in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, studying with Cindy Malmin. He later studied for seven years with Dr. Paul Wirth in Minneapolis, and then moved to Massachusetts at age 15 to study with Wha Kyung Byun at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Evren received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the New England Conservatory and is currently a candidate in their Artist Diploma program, all under the tutelage of Wha Kyung Byun. Other important mentors include Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, Dr. Sarah Miller, Tom Rosenberg, and Mitsuko Uchida.